Adopted by Katie & Matt Allen-Goebel on May 22, 2011 – San Pablo, California, USA
Lily has been with us now for about 3 months. When she first arrived, Lily attempted to push around her older brother, Scooter, stealing his treats, not allowing him to lay on his bed.
So, my husband, Matt, and I spent hours petting and treating both dogs at the same time so that Lily began to associate Scooter with good things and not competition for our affection.
Now, she and Scooter play in the yard and we have found them curled up on the same bed together more than once. Every morning when they go out in the yard, they bark at the same squirrel, even when he’s not in the tree or anywhere to be found.
They spend hours together in the evenings, chasing each other, barking at dogs that are being walked by our fence line and generally making each other very happy.
Lily has recently graduated from Basic Obedience and we are pleased to have a happy and better behaved dog in the house. The obedience training seemed to solidify to Lily that we are her people. She is one of the happiest dogs I have ever seen, always smiling with her tail wagging.
Roxana’s story was originally posted on our pages on Feb 25, 2011:
Adopted by an Iranian family in Washington, DC area – Feb 27, 2011
If a by-passer looks through the windows of our house around ten a.m. she or he will witness my three year old son walking on his toes, holding a peanut butter sandwich over his head as a large black and white dog cruises next to him. Later in the afternoon the same dog will be chasing gently after my daughter and my son as they play tag.
That dog is Ms. Patti. We adopted her when she was a few months old through Vafa with the help of our beloved Farank. I have never seen a funnier dog. She is hesitant to get close to anything new, even a new set of floral pillow covers become a game of hide and seek to her. Still, she is a smart dog. Rice is perhaps the only cuisine that makes her seek it like a beloved at arm’s length. After all the scent of her land is deeply entwined with her as it is with her adopters.
Here’s Patti’s original Story which we posted on our facebook page in January 2011:
Patti was a tiny female puppy covered in mange that would not stay quiet for even a minute. She continued to bark and yelp first few days of her arrival.
Little by little, she has let go of her past. After fully recovering from mange she has turned in to a beauty that wins every one’s heart.
We sent her off to the shelter a couple of months ago but she tried getting too friendly with the wrong dog, big boy Sohrab, and ended up hurt in one eye which sent her right back to quarantine.
Patti greets all the visitors at the quarantine and even gives kisses to those whom she knows.
She makes friends easily and plays well with other dogs. At times that one of the dogs in being scolded for something, she goes and sits with them to make them feel better.
Adopted by Gretta – London, Ontario, Canada – Oct 16, 2011
Bennie (originally known as Bambi):
If it weren’t for our dear friend and supporter Soheila – who for years have been helping local canada rescue groups with transport of the dogs, fostership and more – we would not have had the pleasure of meeting Vicky who helped us place Bambi (now Bennie) in his forever loving home.
I just received this wonderful note from her which I would like to share with you all:
“Gretta has officially adopted Bennie (Bambi) so he now has his own forever family and how lucky he is. I have personally known Gretta for about 16 years and we have been involved in many rescues together.
She is a very caring woman and a true gem for the animals. We were lucky indeed that she was in a position to adopt Bennie.
I have attached a couple of photos I took when we were out walking along the river at the weekend. One is with Gretta and one of her other dogs, Tessa. I often go for long walks with my dogs and Gretta and her dogs. It is now Fall in Canada so Bennie is getting to experience walks amongst all the fall leaves – he loves to play in the leaves. Soon he will have snow to play in!!
I asked Gretta to write something about Bennie and this is what she wrote:
Bennie now lives with his siblings Tessa and Willie (dogs), Maggie and Millie (cats) and Gretta (human) – so he has lots of company which he loves as he does not like to be alone. He has a very busy life with three walks a day and now has many friends in the neighbourhood (human and dogs).
Everyone is amazed when they hear his story and how far he has travelled. Bennie enjoys car rides and outings to the park and especially trips to the beach (our equivalent of the beach which is at the Great Lakes, not the ocean!).
He especially loves to chase shore birds (who just laugh and fly off!), wading in the water and cavorting in the sand with Tessa and Willie. Bennie loves his house and backyard and is a very happy little dog.
All the best Farah.
Vicky
Bambi’s original story was first posted on facebook:
Lucy was first fostered by Douraghy family on June 18, 2011 — and adopted on July 31, 2011
“We had a dog who unfortunately got cancer and we were all very sad because the vet told us that the best thing to do was to say goodbye to her and put her to sleep. My two sisters and I were very sad and we could not forget her.
When Faranak (from Vafa) called us and asked us to foster Lucy because her original owner had fallen sick and unable to care for her, we thought it would be nice to foster her for a little while as we were so sad from our recent loss.
In the beginning, Lucy seemed a little scared, but it was obvious that she was a very kind hearted dog.
All of us had fun getting to know her (including our two cats) and pretty soon we knew that we would not be able to give her back to anyone. We have had Lucy for about 4 months now.
She is a very fun dog to play with and she is also very affectionate. I have taught her to sit, shake hands, lay down and roll over and she loves trying to please me. Lucy always wants to do whatever we are doing, and gets sad when we go to school and has to stay at home.
I love coming home because there always is a big happy dog waiting for me when I get home. Lucy is great with our cats and always wants to play with them, but they don’t like that too much and sometimes end up hissing at her.
We love Lucy very much and she will be part of our family her whole life! 🙂
Darian Douraghy (14 years old)
We also received a few words from Lucy’s original foster mom in Iran:
Lucy was the first puppy from Vafa shelter that I’ve fostered for a period longer than usual. She came to us, bloody, belly-stitched and so small that she was been carried in a banana card board.
She was dormant, quiet & defenseless. We, all, fell in love with her.
She removed all of my worries about fostering Vafa’s puppies. I’m very happy that she lives with a good family.Thank you all especially you dear Faranak.
Armine Charik
Lucy’s original story posted on our facebook page:
When Bulleit was just a small puppy, he and his brothers were rescued by Vafa. Lucky for us, he soon arrived in America and we had the opportunity to meet him.
We met him at a dog park when he was four months old. We were happy to see that he was a very good natured and playful puppy, especially with his foster family. Best of all, he seemed to really like us! It was an easy decision to adopt Bulleit and to bring him into our home.
In recent months, Bulleit has become the center of our family. We can’t imagine a home without him! He has such a great spirit and we can see in his eyes that he has lots of love for us. At home, his favorite activity is to play fetch with a stuffed mallard. Out of doors, he is a superstar in our neighborhood and is always greeting old and new friends.
Although he had a rough start in life, we always tell him, “This is your home now, Bulleit.” And he loves us and his new home, having the blessing of constant food, shelter, and attention.
We truly appreciate all the different acts of kindness from all over the world that finally brought Bulleit to us.
…and here is a few words from Bulleit (then Borna)’s foster mom in the US:
Bulleit was a joy to have around! He brought tons of energy and play to the house, and he was a superstar at the dog park.
He wanted to play and interact with all of the dogs and people.
Borna (now Bulleit)’s original rescue story posted here: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150124272938522
Adopted by Barbara & Matt on June 11, 2011 – Pescadero, CA
We had been looking for a dog for several months when my husband Matt saw a sign for a dog adoption fair in Half Moon Bay.
I visited the adoption fair webpage and looked at the dogs that were going to be at the fair and decided to stop by. Immediately I knew the dogs that I had come to see were not going to be a good fit for our family.
Then saw my silly boy laying on his back on the asphalt parking lot asking for belly rubs. Since he was so adorable and I had not seen his picture on the rescue webpage, I thought he belonged to someone who came to support the rescue group.
I was so excited when I learned he was looking for a home that I immediately called my husband and asked him to take a break from his job so he could come to the fair to meet Hapoo. We agreed we thought Hapoo would be a great dog for us.
Then we were surprised to learn Hapoo had traveled so far to find a forever home. Matt immediately made plans to build a fence so we could bring Hapoo home. Hapoo made himself at home the very first night he spent here.
The cats disappeared for days after Hapoo decided they could make good playmates. Hapoo quickly learned the command “Drop the Chicken!” after one snuck out of the coop.
We also had to get a secure lid for the garbage can, learn to keep butter as far back away from him as possible and along with many other Hapoo rules.
However, cuddling is a must in this family and he loves to cuddle. Although stubborn and independent, he is always silly, sweet and loving. Then one day at the dog park he started limping on one of his rear legs.
I had seen him do it several times before, but his limp usually lasted only a few seconds. This time he didn’t stop limping. After taking a few X-rays the vet told us Hapoo had an old injury, he suffered a broken leg near the hip joint when he was a very small puppy and the injury had not healed correctly.
Poor Puppy! As if it weren’t enough he suffered severe mange as a puppy.
He had surgery a week later and after a few tough weeks our boy was back on his feet and racing the fastest dogs he could find at the park.In the mornings he comes with me to take care of the chickens and plays with our pet goat in the backyard.
He still is completely confused by the cats, who believe they are above playing with him. Hapoo has become a California Beach Bum.
He fills his days with running in the sand, digging for sand crabs, investigating tide pools, and playing tag with the waves. Hapoo is obsessed with car rides, loves to go on vacation, if I leave the door open he will just jump in the car and take a nap.
He obeys all commands whenever he feels like it, none when he does not. We’re still working on that.
Even though Hapoo has only been in our lives for four months we can’t imagine not having him around. It’s amazing to us that he found his way into our home.
Hapoo is such a happy dog and he always starts our days with a smile by lying on his back and asking for belly rubs.
